How Do We Know When Students Are Engaged?

(Updated 11/2013) Educational author and former teacher, Dr. Michael Schmoker shares in his book, Results Now, a study that found of 1,500 classrooms visited, 85 percent of them had engaged less than 50 percent of the students. In other words, only 15 percent of the classrooms had more than half of the class at least paying attention to the lesson. So, how do they know if a student is engaged? Teacher-Directed Learning You will see students... Paying attention (alert, tracking with their eyes) Taking notes (particularly Cornell) Listening (as opposed to chatting, or sleeping) Asking questions (content related, or in a game, like 21 questions or I-Spy) Responding to questions (whole group, small group, four corners, Socratic Seminar) Following requests (participating, Total Physical Response (TPR), storytelling, Simon Says) Reacting (laughing, crying, shouting, etc.) Student-Directed Learning You see students individually or in small groups... Activity and Ownership

letsgetengaged - home Search, Collect, and Share | SMILE 2. Engaging with communities Chapter 2: Engaging with Communities Community understanding of children’s learning The wider world of family and community is a fundamental part of the early childhood curriculum and is mutually supportive of the well being of whānau/families, local communities and neighbourhoods. Families should be part of the assessment and evaluation of the curriculum as well as of children’slearning and development. During the research process, many services investigated methods that were incorporated into the curriculum. forging, enhancing and maintaining links with the family/whānau and the wider world, in order to make children’s learning visiblegiving children increasing opportunities to see themselves as valued members and contributors of their community. The projects Outcomes Services clarified that making children’s learning visible for families involves more than creating a display of images of children’s experiences. More than just play Making learning visible (Atawhai Playcentre report, p.7-15)

Real World Math - ideas for using Google Earth in math class Real World Math is a site with lessons and ideas for using Google Earth in the math classroom. There are lesson ideas, examples, and downloads for math that are based on active learning and project based learning, including analysis and creativity. The Lessons page has lessons grouped into five categories: Concept Lessons, Project-Based Learning, Exploratory, Measurement and Space. This is a fun and interesting way to teach, and learn, math. Related: Yummy Math - making math relevant to the world The Engagement Pyramid: Six Levels of Connecting People and Social Change What does it mean to "engage people"? Gideon Rosenblatt talks through six different levels of engagement people can have with your organization, in an article reprinted from Groundwire. Reprinted with permission from Groundwire. One of the things Groundwire does is help environmental organizations build better strategies for engaging people. Civic engagement can mean a lot of different things though – from the casual forwarding of a friend’s email to deep involvement on a board of directors. The most effective social change organizations understand how to wield their portfolio of engagement tactics in Zen-like fashion; knowing just what kind of touch is called for to influence the outcomes of a particular decision. At Groundwire, they use a framework for mapping these different levels of engagement that they call an “Engagement Pyramid.” The upper levels of our Engagement Pyramid entail a much deeper level of engagement than is typical of most approaches to online activism.

MathsNet and NRich Maths 3D shape resource heaven MathsNet have a wonderful collection of 3D shape resources at this webpage. There are a variety of interactive applets that cover 3D shape topics including nets and 2D views of 3D shapes. My particular favourite is ‘Building Houses 2′ where pupils have to build the 3D shape by using the 2D views given. They score maximum points by using the minimum number of blocks possible. Building Houses 2 Interactive Applet NRich Maths have a superb and challenging activity based on 2D views of 3D shapes called The Perforated Cube. UPDATE: MathsNet seems to be history, but the same links are available from this site:

Online Maths Activities Posted by Mrs Kathleen Morris on Friday, August 31st 2012 We had a numeracy curriculum day at my school today and I was asked to present a workshop on online maths sites. The audience was diverse with teachers from all grade levels as well as CRTs (casual replacement teachers) and student teachers. I began by giving a few tips for using online maths sites. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. I shared one or two examples of maths resources that could be used for all four areas of our maths lesson structure. 1. A + Click: This site has quick activities for all age groups to develop logical reasoning and creative thinking. 2. Virtual Manipulatives: A simple alternative to using the maths tools on the IWB software which I know many teachers find frustrating. 3. Sqworl: A great visual way to put together a collection of maths activities for students to use on their computers. 4. Jenny Eather’s Maths Dictionary: This site has kid-friendly and visual definitions for maths vocabularly.